In recent years there has been a proliferation of mobile devices having built-in location determination capability. Such mobile devices can include GPS (global positioning system) navigation devices for letting the user know his location and what is located nearby, as well as mobile communication devices such as cell phones, smart phones and tablets, where the built-in location determination function is one of a plurality of features that work together to provide a variety of functions. For example, a mobile communication device can include a digital camera, and the built-in location determination capability can be used to tag a digital image with location information (such as GPS coordinates) corresponding to where the image was captured.
Types of electronic apparatus that are less portable and are designed to operate primarily in a particular location tend not to have built-in location determination capability. The additional electronic circuitry would add to the cost of the apparatus. However, it can still be very useful for some types of such stationary electronic apparatus to be able to acquire and store their location. For example, commonly owned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/276,510, entitled “Geographically Based Humidity Adjustment of Printhead Maintenance”, (incorporated by reference herein in its entirety) discloses a method of controlling inkjet printhead maintenance based on local humidity conditions which are pertinent to where the inkjet printer is located. In addition, it can be helpful for a wireless printer to be easily located for printing an image from a mobile communication device. On a multifunction printer having a scanning apparatus, it can be useful to be able to tag the scanned images with location information corresponding to where the image was scanned. Furthermore on an electronic apparatus that performs operations of a secure nature, it can be helpful to confirm remotely that the electronic apparatus is located in the secure location where it is expected to be.
Consequently, a need exists for a way to provide location information to an electronic apparatus that does not have built-in location determination capability, and to subsequently be able to use the location information.